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Sunday, February 4, 2018

Chances are, unless you have been living under a social media rock, you've heard of Ali Edwards and her idea of choosing "One little word" to live by for the upcoming year.

Last year was the first year I chose a word, and I chose a very appropriate word for a new mama. My word was embrace. I wanted to embrace all the new changes headed my way...and embrace my sweet little baby :) While the transition to motherhood was far from smooth, I think I did my best to embrace the good...along with the not so good :) #SleepDeprivationAnyone I also excelled at literally embracing my sweet boy! 2017 was filled with its fair share of snuggles, and you won't hear me complaining!

For 2018, I wanted to choose a word that would not only challenge me...but benefit me ;) I thought long and hard about the different words I could choose...and to be honest, I almost scrapped the whole idea altogether..and then...it hit me. My word...while not a common one in the "one little word" community, is a word that fits, it fits the stage of life we are in perfectly, and provides me an opportunity to push myself to learn something new.

Memories...what a perfect word for the mama is who is so desperately trying to freeze time. These last 10 months have gone by in the blink of an eye, and have been filled with so many memories and moments that I will forever treasure. So many pictures, so many videos, so many adventures...

and the best part? This is just the beginning.

Becoming a mom has been the single greatest thing that has ever happened to me. I always knew I wanted to be a mom...but until Bennett was born, I didn't realize how much I needed to be a mom.

This little boy has brought such joy to our lives. We often sit and talk after he has gone to bed and wonder what we did before him.

He is our constant entertainment and the reason I look forward to waking up in the morning. Spending time with him and his daddy is a treasure and while these moments are fleeting...it's only because they are so special.

So this year, I vow to make memories my focus. I want to create them, capture them, and treasure them.

To do this I have a few things I plan to do...

1) I am using the 1 second every day app to create a video of our 365 days in 2018. If you have never heard of this app or used it, I urge you to download it to your phone immediately. It is super easy to use and even after just a month I am thrilled with the memories we have captured.

It is going to be so fun in December to look back at all the fun we had and how much Benny has changed over the last 365 days.

2) I am FINALLY learning to use my DSLR camera. I purchased my Nikon D3300 2 years ago and had yet to shoot in manual mode. I was am overwhelmed with all the buttons and settings. However, if I am capturing memories of my family...I want these photos to be great.

My plan for this is to learn as much as I can through YouTube Videos, blog posts, and possibly take a class or a course.

3) Through learning to use my camera, I am also participating in Project 365, where I will be taking one photo a day, every day. I have done this in the past, but the majority of my photos were food...this time around it's all about Benny :) I'm hoping as I get better with my camera I will be able to capture more than just portraits of my cute little model...but we shall see :)

Capturing all these memories is great...but what do I plan to do with the pictures? Well I am glad you asked...

4) I will be creating photo books and albums, first up is finishing Bennett's baby book and I hope to blog more and record some of the little moments that mean so much to me. There are so many things that Benny does, so many fun days and moments that I swear I will never forget...but 18 years from now my brain will likely be pretty full :)

I have also created an Instagram page to document my photo taking journey...and all the cute photos our sweet boy! At the end of this year I am hoping to create a photo album filled with these 365 photos :)

So there you have it...my New Year's Resolution for 2018! I have a feeling this will be my favorite one yet...although I think I have said that every year :)

Thursday, February 1, 2018

Double digits...it hardly seems possible! This month flew by in the blink of an eye and it seems like you changed from a baby to a little boy overnight! I'm still constantly torn between being excited to see what you become...and wanting to pause time!

Diapers

We made the switch to Target's Up & Up brand and have been really happy with them so far. We went up to the size 4 (instead of buying overnight diapers) and we now use the size 4s full time. He has lots of room to grow into them...but we aren't having any leaks day or night, so we are going to stick with the 4s.

Clothes

Lil' man is running low on clothing that fits. I swear he went to bed able to fit comfortably into his clothes and woke up a whole size bigger! He is wearing 9 mo stuff (snugly) and is most comfortable in the 9-12 mos clothing. I am putting off going through his closet...because it makes me sad :(

Food

This little guy is still a champ when it comes to food. He will eat anything...and I mean ANYTHING. We were out celebrating a friends birthday and decided it was time to give him a lemon ;) While he did give us a pretty funny sour face...he actually reached for more.

He eats 2 breakfasts (3 if we are being honest) He nurses first thing in the morning and then has some mini-pancakes and sausage or ham here at home. He then goes to daycare and about 8:30/9:00 he has apple/pear oatmeal that we make here at home and pieces of what the big kids are eating.

He is now only taking two 5oz bottles at daycare, and eating lunch with the bigger kids. Lunch is usually a Gerber Bits meal. We make all his breakfast and veggies, but when it comes to pureeing meat, I'm out!

Dinner is always an adventure. He mostly eats whatever we are having and we have yet to find a meal he doesn't enjoy. Spaghetti and meatballs are still his favorite...but he also is a big fan of any Mexican dish. #Genetic

Sleep

We seem to FINALLY be back on track with sleep. After the holidays and lots of sickness we had to do a couple "cry-it-out" sessions. I have always dreaded (and avoided) letting him cry...but we got to the point where he was just crying because he wanted us to come and get him.

We started with a nighttime session, and I was on pins and needles hating every second of listening to him cry. Luckily, it only took 8 minutes for him to settle down and go to sleep. He still woke up a few times in the middle of the night, but we again just let him fuss it out and he would put himself right back to sleep. I feel really lucky that he never cried more than 10 minutes at a time...because I can't promise I wouldn't have gone in to rescue him!

After a couple of days of torture (I'm slightly dramatic) he is now back on track with his sleep. He is going to bed now around 7-7:15 and sleeping until about 6-6:45 depending on the day. If it's a Saturday or Sunday he will wake up around 6AM, but during the week we have to wake him up at 6:45 so we can get him ready for daycare #OfCourse

Naps are great...at home, but he is still struggling to nap very well at daycare. He is back to taking his morning nap, but not much more than 20-30 mins and a short afternoon nap. It doesn't make any sense to me because on the weekends at home his morning and afternoon nap are almost 2 hours. I think he doesn't want to miss out on the fun at Miss Judy's.

Milestones

I feel like he has changed so much this month. Not a whole lot of "new" tricks, but he just seems older and less like a baby.

He waves and points at people, and even points at the pictures in his books.

He says "ma-ma" a little more these days...but "da-da" is still his favorite word. He is also babbling constantly. Lots of different sounds and different tones. He talks to himself a lot, and talks and points at pictures in his books.

He still isn't completely crawling, but he is up on all fours and taking a few steps (crawls?) forward before falling over and reverting to rolling.

This month he has mastered sitting up on his own. It was definitely a shock the morning I checked the baby monitor and saw him sitting in his crib just hanging out...we promptly lowered his crib after that!

He is trying to pull up on just about everything. He wants to stand, stand, stand! While he hasn't mastered getting himself to the standing position, he will stand and play for long periods of time if we get him there.

His two bottom teeth are completely in, and the top two have made their debut! We didn't even know he was "teething" with the bottom two...but those top teeth made themselves known!

Likes

There isn't a whole lot this sweet boy doesn't like. He has the best little personality and I am so grateful for his laid back, go with the flow self.

He is still a big fan of books and still chooses those over any other toy. We read him a book before bed every night and his face lights up when we walk him over to the book shelf and let him pick out a book.

He and Gracie are still best buddies...although, I am not sure she reciprocates the feelings. Now that he is moving around more she steers clear...he isn't the most gentle with his touches.

He loves being outside and going for walks/runs with mommy! The only problem is the weather isn't the warmest and he insists on taking his socks off and putting his feet up!

Second only to books is his tool bench that he got for Christmas from Grammy and Papa. He loves to "bam bam" with his hammer and put the shapes and the ball into the workbench.

Music is still a crowd-pleaser and I love watching him "dance" to the music. If I am holding him he will bounce up and down until I start to dance with him.

He still loves the bath and loves the chance to bathe in the big boy tub...daddy is a nervous wreck when we do this so it's only happened a few times...when dad is gone :)

Dislikes

Like I mentioned above, there isn't much our happy guy doesn't like. I would say the only thing that consistently ticks him off is riding in the car. He is not a baby who falls asleep during a car ride...and if it's much more than 15 minutes in the car he gets restless and fussy. Most of our car rides involve AJ driving and Benny and I in the back seat :)

I have said this every month...but it's true. Every day just seems to get better and better! This guy has added so much fun and laughter to our lives and I am loving seeing his little personality develop.

Teacher, Runner, Wife, Novice DIY'er, Ice Cream Lover, Avid New Year's Resolution Maker, and excited Mama-to-Be! I do my best to live my life by the slogan "What the Heck, Why Not?" while making sure to enjoy all these wonderful little moments that life has to offer.